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CONGOblog A weblog of The Congregational Church of Manhasset (UCC) Archives--April 2005
4.26.05 Better Together This past Sunday, Jimmy gave the sequel to the previous week's
sermon about Bowling Alone. He referenced Robert Putnam's follow-
up to BA entitled Better Together where the Harvard researcher offers
both solutions to the breakdown in community bonds in our culture
and examples of cultural groups and institutions that are already
accomplishing the re-establishment of "social capital". You can find
out more about the book and the research behind it at the Better
Together web site.Among the more interesting ideas Putnam brings up in this second
book is that religious institutions account for half of the social capital
in our nation.The site includes brief examples of organizations, businesses and
churches that have built social capital--literally strengthened the
bonds of their communities, employees and members. It also offers
150 ways you can personally work to build social capital in your
community.*******
Thanks goes to Margaret D .(whose own family lost members to the
Armenian Genocide) for passing along an editorial in the NY Times
that I missed. It was from April 17, so unfortunately you cannot read
it on-line without paying for it at this point, and was by Nicholas
Kristof. It is entitled "Mr. Bush, Take a Look at MTV". I saw MTV
in the headline and skipped over it, but it was actually about the
genocide going on right now in Darfur. Kristof continues to be the
only person in the media giving this tragic situation any type of
coverage. In his article, he lists the genocides of the 20th century
(e.g. Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda,, etc.) and how
American governments led by both Democrats and Republicans have
consistently turned a blind eye to them. He then goes on o make the
obvious point that the Bush administration is making the same tragic
mistake in the case of Darfur.Interestingly, he notes that of all media outlets, it is MTV that is
providing some of the best coverage of Darfur. On their channel
offered to colleges, MTVu, they have a correspondent who is from
Rwanda and also a student at Swathmore. On Monday, the AP carried
an article about this remarkable 18 year-old woman and the organization
she helped set up to raise $1 million to fund the African Union
peacekeeping forces--the best bet for stopping the slaughter. Her
organization, the Genocide Intervention Fund, has attracted support
from many politicians, military leaders and academics. Visit their web
site to see a moving Flash presentation. I highly recommend
reading her story. It is a story of hope--something all too rare when it
comes to both Rwanda and Darfur.*******
There was a great article in Sunday's NY Times about Bruce
Springsteen's new album. Apparently, the Boss delves deep into his
spiritual side on this one. Personally, I have thought for some time
that Bruce was one of the best preachers out there. His album, The
Rising, was one of the best responses to September 11 that I
encountered. (Here's a great review of the earlier album.)*******
Did you know the Virgin Mary appeared in a water stain under a Chicago
overpass last week? Well, now you do.
4.22.05 CONGOblog Grab Bag Alright, today's post is a grab bag of stuff. If you want a well-
constructed presentation of information (okay, maybe well-constructed
is a little much) check posts from earlier in the week.UCC President Writes About the New Pope
John Thomas, the president and General Minister of our denomination,
The United Church of Christ wrote two interesting pieces during the
last week or so about the new pope. (Just so you know, Thomas holds
an elected position that has term limits. Also, because we practice
congregational polity, Thomas' stances are in no way binding of the
average church member.)His first article was written prior to the announcement of the former
Cardinal Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) as pope. It offers his hopes for
what the new pope will be like. What Kind of Pope?The second article was written after the new pope's identity became
known and expresses his disappointment at the cardinals' choice. UCC
leader offers prayers, expresses 'personal disappointment' as Benedict
XVI begins papacyA Poem to Commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian
GenocideAs I've written about before in this blog, our church (and in fact our
denomination) has a sizable number of members from Armenian
descent. This Sunday marks the 90th anniversary of the genocide
carried out by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenians. Over one
million Armenians were killed and the Nazis modeled the Holocaust
after the techniques of the Ottomans.. To this day, the Turkish
government has never admitted the genocide even happened and our
government has never pressed the issue.This morning WNYC broadcast a poem, The Size of a Heart by Maro
Markaryan, an Armenian poet. You can read it and even listen to it
read on their site. It is a fitting remembrance of those who were killed.Go Joe!
Our own Joe D'Angelo was honored this week by the Harvard Club of
Long Island as Distinguished Teacher 2005. Congrats Joe! Read all
about it.Peace,
Chase
4.20.05 Middle Class Religion and a Suggested Reading
List for the New PopeIn the shallow media coverage of the new pope that I've seen on TV
and elsewhere, you can almost see the disappointment in the faces of
reporters and anchors. The story many of them wanted to tell was the
election of a pope from the Southern hemisphere and the changing face
of the Roman Catholic Church. Instead, they got a very conservative
German pope that is concerned about the decline of the church in
Europe.No matter who the new pope is, the story of the changing religious
landscape in Latin America is a story worth examination, especially
because it may tell us about the religious life of a wealthy country like
ours.Once the overwhelmingly dominant church in Central and South
America, the Roman Catholic Church has seen steady declines in
membership in recent years as evangelical and fundamentalist
Protestant churches have moved quickly into the region. There
are many reasons for this change, but one of the reasons I find
interesting is the economic factors that are at work.The LA Times ran an interesting story a few days ago about the
growth of evangelical churches in Central and South America and
I was struck by a sentence one of the evangelical ministers delivered:
"We can distribute food, but our objective is for people to get to know
God. Both rich and poor need Christ," said Geovane Dias, first vice
president of the First Baptist Church of Copacabana. "To take care of
the poor is not our most important mission, like it is with the Catholic
Church…. For us our No. 1 priority is to serve Christ."This statement seems fairly innocuous, after all the church is
supposed to be more than a social service agency. It is a sentiment
common among evangelicals, who as their name says have the
propagation of their faith as their top priority. The problem with this
ranking of values is that caring for the physical needs of people tends
to drop rapidly and take a marginal place at best when evangelism
becomes the norm.In American evangelicalism, aggressive evangelism usually finds
corollaries in a legalistic understanding of doctrine and an emphasis
upon self-help spirituality. The end result is that the church turns
away from the needs of the poor and becomes another means for the
middle class to serve itself.My concern with the church's failure to seriously address the needs
of the poor and oppressed of the world is that Jesus spent a great
deal of time speaking about economic concerns, namely about
religious people who failed to share what they possessed with others
in need. When the church loses touch with Jesus' teachings on the
poor and oppressed, it loses its way.It will be interesting to watch the changes in Latin American
Christianity and to see if the rise of the middle class there results in a
Christianity that turns inward and chooses to insulate its members
from the suffering around them. Certainly that has been the case for
American Christians no matter their denomination.*******
I feel uncomfortable commenting too much on the new pope, since I
am not Roman Catholic. Let's just say that I was hoping for a leader
that would help the Roman Catholic Church change its views on issues
of sexuality and gender, and I fear that the former Cardinal Ratzinger
is not that person. I hope to be pleasantly surprised by Pope Benedict
XVI. Any other thoughts out there?Here are a few articles written in the last few weeks that I'm hoping the
new pope has read:
- Long Island's own Rabbi Marc Gellman writes (without his
partner in the God Squad) Msg. Hartman) at Newsweek.com
an insightful letter from Moses to Benedict XVI. It deals with
humility, legalism and authenticity.- Anna Quindlen wrote in the April 18 issue of Newsweek a
provocative critique of John Paul II. I think she rightly points
out the many contradictions of the late pope. Here's a nice
blurb: "Perhaps the most telling thing about his papacy is that
he has been mourned by millions who unapologetically acted
contrary to his directives."- In last Sunday's NY Times Magazine, Colm Toibin offers a
prediction (an accurate one I think) of how Western Catholics
will respond if the church keeps its current stances in regards
to issues of sexuality and gender. Blurb: "[The Catholic
faithful] will respect the pope, even love him, but, especially in
the West, they will follow their own consciences on whom they
love and how they love as much as on how they vote."Is there anything you'd like to add to the new pope's reading list?
Peace,
Chase
4.19.05 Bowling Alone WELCOME REVEALER READERS!!!
One of the best religion blogs on the web, The Revealer, put a blurb
on its site from yesterday's post regarding the NBC mini-series,
Revelations. We're honored by the attention!*******
In his sermon on Sunday, Jimmy made use of a book by Harvard
professor Robert Putnam called Bowling Alone. Putnam catalogues
the decline of community in America from voter turnout to
involvement in bowling leagues. Putnam's thesis is that "over the
past thirty years we have become ever more alienated from one another
and from our social and political institutions, and that this
disengagement poses a critical threat to our personal health, local
communities, and national well-being."Putnam writes that the solution to this general cultural disengagement
and alienation comes in the form of what he calls "social capital"--value
created by social networks. Social capital like financial capital has real
life benefits. These benefits come in the form of trust, reciprocity,
information and cooperation, and they contribute to stronger
communities, lower crime rates, healthier children, etc.Guess what? One of the social networks that produces social capital
is the local church. Being a part of a church directly contributes to the
value of your life and that of those around you. Furthermore, when
people are involved in a community of faith and when a church
becomes more than just another social club, people can move beyond
being a good citizen in America to being a good citizen in the Kingdom
of God. People who operate out of the flowing of God's spirit open
themselves up to dramatic transformation not only in their own lives but
in the world as a whole.Movement towards spiritual transformation is a process and it can
begin via one of the many ways our church builds social networks:
Sunday school, PF, the nursery school, mission projects, book clubs,
etc. Our church is in the business of not only producing social capital
but also spiritual capital. Stay tuned for next Sunday's sermon where
Jimmy will continue to talk about Putnam's work.More about Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone:
*******
Darfur Update
On March 29, the United Nations finally got around to imposing
sanctions on Sudan for its support of the genocide in Darfur. The U.S.
sponsored the resolution. It's nice to see some progress, no matter
how small, happening here. Thanks to everyone who wrote their
Senators and members of Congress back in March. Read March blog postings about Darfur.*******
Uganda Update
While we were discussing Darfur on this blog, Katrina M. passed
along an article about the same kind of thing happening in Uganda.
Yesterday's New York Times had a front page story on efforts by people
in Uganda to use traditional rituals of forgiveness and contrition to deal
with people who had participated in the atrocities--often people who
were abducted as children and forced to fight. I found it to be a
dramatic story about the use of religious and cultural rituals to promote
healing and reconciliation alongside other attempts at justice such as the
International Criminal Court at The Hague.Peace,
Chase
3.18.05 A Rant About Revelations On the one hand, NBC is a little late in cashing in on the "end of days"
fad as indicated by the runaway bestselling Left Behind book series by
arch fundamentalist Tim Layhaye and Christian pulp-novelist Jerry
Jenkins. But on the other hand, you have to wonder if the timing of the
network's miniseries Revelations doesn't have some sort of supernatural
connection (good or evil I'm not sure). Soon after the Terry Schiavo
case when we're all aware of what a "persistent vegetative state" is, the
first episode involves a girl--in Florida no less!--in just such a state.
Also, when the eyes of the world are on the conclave of cardinals in
Rome and we're all feeling in a religious frame of mind, it seems like the
right time to watch characters with Vatican connections running around
talking about rather obtuse religious terminology.I taped last Wednesday's episode of Revelations and it took me until
today to watch it. I have to confess a certain weariness with this kind
of religious sensationalism. I've heard this kind of speculation
involving the Bible from my Southern Baptist childhood on. In recent
years with The Da Vinci Code, Left Behind and numerous TV preachers
making fortunes off of a sort of pornographic glorification of violence in
the end times, I cringe when I think of what a TV network might do.Take the The Left Behind series for example. It presents a particular
type of interpretation of the Bible's apocalyptic texts that I consider to
be not only unbiblical and scurrilous but also absolutely anti-Semitic
and dangerous. If you ever wonder why the Religious Right in America
loves the modern state of Israel so much, check out Left Behind.
Although Israel plays a key part in the end times according to this type
of thinking, it's bad news for the Jews. All Jews are either ultimately
converted to Christianity or massacred by a bloodthirsty Christ who
shows up to mete out judgment on all "unbelievers". The Israeli
government is well aware of what fundamentalist Christians believe
about their ultimate fate but are glad to take American arms and money
in the meantime.As I watched the show, however, I must confess that I was reeled in by
its slick production values. Granted, its use of scripture is an
embarrassment and the Christian characters in it are either mysterious
Vatican types or as I'm assuming we'll soon see Protestant
fundamentalists, however as a long-time X Files fan, I felt right at home.
You remember The X Files don't you? It told the story of two FBI
agents unraveling a government conspiracy involving the end of the
world, alien abductions and other supernatural stuff. Agent Mulder
(David Duchovny) was the true believer and Agent Scully (Gilian
Anderson) was the skeptical scientist slowly coming around to the
idea of a vast UFO conspiracy.In Revelations, Bill Pullman plays Dr. Richard Massey (the Scully
character) and Natascha McElhone plays Sister Josepha Montefiore
(the Mulder character). Pullman plays the same mopy sad sack
character he always plays whether he's the hapless paramour of a then
"in the closet" Ellen Degenerres in Mr. Wrong or the president of the
United States in Independence Day. He's a Harvard physics professor
who apparently likes to debunk the Bible (a la the second rate
Discovery Channel pseudo-documentaries that air all the time) and
whose young daughter was killed by Satanists. McElhone (whom I
have liked a lot in her previous movie roles in The Truman Show,
Ronin, Solaris and Laurel Canyon) plays a nun working for a
foundation bankrolled by a fundamentalist dedicated to proving
miracles do exist. Throw in Michael Masse channeling his best John
Malkovich as the Satanist serial killer who murdered Prof. Massey's
daughter and add the guy who played Indiana Jones' sidekick Sallah in
Raiders of the Lost Ark and you've got a decent cast.In the first episode, not a whole lot is explained or expounded about
how this end of the world thing is going to come about. There's a baby
that mysteriously survives a sunken ship who could be the second
coming of Christ or the Antichrist and the girl in the PVS may be
channeling Massey's dead daughter, but basically it's all a teaser for
what is to come.I was pleasantly surprised in the first episode at how little of the
show's content caused me to groan in despair over the religious state
of our culture. It was basically a summer beach read of a TV show.
Nonetheless, I do have to take great exception with the show's use of
scripture quotations as the stock lead-in following commercial breaks.
It's proof-texting at its best!For example, one scripture citation that appears in the show comes from
John 4:48: Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders
you will not believe." First things first, the show misquotes the
scripture to say, "unless they see signs they will not believe." I guess
NBC's "they" refers to all of us, but the "you" in the actual text refers
to a government official who comes to Jesus asking him to heal his
dying son. The irony here is that John's Gospel has a lot to say about
the "signs" (i.e. miracles) that Jesus performs and their relative lack of
value for inspiring true faith. John wants his readers to know that true
faith involves not depending on signs at all. The crowds come to Jesus
seeking a miracle, but when Jesus starts teaching people lose interest.
Furthermore, many who see Jesus' signs still do not believe. An
emphasis upon the need for miracles is actually a demand for proof of
God's existence and work in the world, faith involves believing when
you don't have any proof and sometimes in spite of evidence to the
contrary.The problem I have with the modern obsession with end times stuff (an
obsession that existed in pre-modern times too) is that speculation on
the sensational is too often a distraction upon the real problems of the
world. Apocalyptic speculation is easy because there is so little at
stake. After all when it happens, who cares at that point anyway?
This stuff becomes mere entertainment and in a culture where we are
entertained to death, too much entertainment apart from reality can be
dangerous. If American evangelicals and other spiritual types spent as
much time heeding Jesus' call to care for the oppressed and the poor as
they do charting out the latest signs of the end of the world, the billions
in dire need of help might come a lot closer to buying into this whole
Jesus-thing.But who am I kidding, having just ranted about our culture's lust for
entertainment, I'm still going to watch this week's episode of Revelations.
I will watch it, however, not because I'm looking for an accurate
interpretation of the Bible or apocalyptic events but because I'm a fan of
science-fiction (and because I need fodder for this blog).Peace,
Chase
P.S. Entertainment reporters of the world hear my cry! The last book
of the Christian Bible is called REVELATION not RevelationS! There
is no "s" in the biblical work. I'm assuming the producers of the mini-
series know the difference (but you know what happens when you
assume...).P.P.S. Here's an article on Revelations by Teresa Blythe at Beliefnet that
offers a thought-provoking critique of the mini-series. She takes a
harsher view of it than I do, but she makes some dead-on observations
on the way the violent images of religion used by the entertainment
industry ignore the Bible's presentation of a loving God.
3.14.05 John Paul II: Conservative, Liberal, Both, Neither? Okay, we're all a little over-saturated with coverage of the death of
John Paul II and with the conclave of cardinals picking the next pope,
but I do think that JP2 is worth at least one more look here at the
CONGOblog.I've come across some articles and editorials here and there by more
liberal-progressive types who are arguing against the efforts of the
Religious Right in America to claim JP2's legacy in their "pro-life"
agenda.Some of these articles go too far and want to paint JP2 as one of
their own. An example comes in an editorial by Ted Rall who writes,
"Except for abortion the pope was a liberal." Rall does a good job of
pointing out how far the Right is from the late pope on issues of war,
capital punishment, poverty and the environment, but he barely gives
lip service to where he stood on issues of women's leadership in the
church, sexual orientation and contraception.A more balanced job of placing JP2 in the contemporary political
spectrum comes in an article by Markus Mrowka, a student at George
Washington University. Mrowka, a practicing Roman Catholic and a
self-described political progressive, points out honestly both the
culturally conservative positions and the politically liberal positions
taken by the pope.In the manner of delineating issues as either conservative or liberal
used by politicians and the press, John Paul II lands squarely in both
camps. He was conservative on issues of sexuality, abortion,
euthanasia, contraception, homosexuality, women in the church, not
to mention the fact that he was staunchly anti-communist. Yet, it
should not be forgotten that he was liberal on issues of worker's
rights, war and peace, capital punishment, censorship, religious
freedom, militarism, the environment and policies affecting the poor.I remain both deeply respectful and deeply disturbed by the stances
of John Paul II. At this time, I'm not sure if the mixed nature of my
feelings is a good or bad thing.How do you feel about the positions of John Paul II?
4.13.05 A Theology of Hate "There are people from every religion who use their religious beliefs
to justify terrorism," I said to the confirmation class."But there are more Muslim terrorists than any others," one of them replied.
As we discussed whether or not his statement was true, I was
distressed to discover that this student and several of the others
thought that Islam was only a religion of hate and violence as opposed
to Christianity the religion of peace. It was a teachable moment for that
class and I talked with them about the many violent groups that claim
the name Christian, e.g. the IRA in Northern Ireland, various militia
groups in Africa and white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Our
discussion left me disturbed, because I felt the view of some of my
confirmands represented an all-too common perception of Islam,
Christianity and faith in general.I would argue that a propensity towards violence is endemic to
humanity in general and religion is just one thing among many used
to justify violence towards others. The Islamic terrorists (Al Qaeda
and its ilk) that so consumes the American media represent an
extremist mutation of Islam that has more to do with political ideology
than religion. Scholars call them "Islamists" which unfortunately
sounds a little too much like "Islamic" for our media to get their minds
around. Wikipedia has a nice overview of Islamism as a political
ideology.We Christians have our own terrorists. In the hubbub over the death
of John Paul II, the media did manage to mention now and then that
Eric Rudolph reached a plea agreement with the government last week.
Rudolph confessed to the bombing of a gay night club, a women's
clinic, the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta and other sites. He
belongs to a religious movement called Christian Identity which
believes that Anglo-Saxons are the true descendents of the lost tribes
of Israel, Jews are children of Satan and all non-white ethnic groups
are so-called "mud people". This belief system uses a complicated
methodology of biblical interpretation to justify its beliefs and the
promotion of violence. Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber
was also an adherent to Christian Identity. Most white supremacist
groups adhere to Christian Identity beliefs in one form or another. See
the overview of Christian Identity at religioustolerance.org for more
information.No matter where one stands on the Bush Administration's war on
terror, I think it is essential that all of us who claim to be people of
faith educate ourselves on the differences between those who would
use a particular religion (be it Islam, Christianity or another) to justify
terrorism and what that religion actually teaches about violence.Given the fact that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
affected our church in a direct manner--killing two of our members,
several relatives of members, friends and coworkers of just about all
of our members--it is all the more essential that we continue to resist
the impulse to generalize and haphazardly blame a particular group
of people.I was pleased to hear how well the group discussion led by Jimmy on
"The Crusades, Holy War and Contemporary Issues" went on
Sunday. Jimmy reported that the discussion was insightful and one
of the ideas that came up was to invite an imam or other leader from
one of the local mosques to speak at our church. Hopefully, Sunday's
discussion along with other events like having Rabbi Jodie Siff as
guest speaker a few weeks ago will further our church's efforts to r
each out to and learn from other faith groups.You can read on-line the article from Christian Century used in
Sunday's discussionPeace,
Chase
*******
If you haven't checked out the links on the right under the "Huh?"
column, I encourage you to do so. It's amazing to see what people do
out there in Jesus' name. I happen to have a collection of Jesus kitsch
in my office including a Jesus bobblehead doll, Jesus action figure and
Rev. Lovejoy from The Simpsons. In case anyone is looking for a
present for a certain associate minister, the "Talking Jesus Doll"
looks pretty good to me.
4.11.05 John Paul II, Frank Rich & Lewis Black Well, I'm back from vacation and ready to get this blog cranking
again. A lot has changed in the world, at least in the coverage
offered by the American media, since the last post.Does anyone remember Terry Schiavo?
Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
The death of John Paul II has taken hold of our collective
consciousness and dropped the Schiavo case like a hot potato.
We can only pray that now after the reporters, pundits and publicity
whores have left the scene, all parties involved can find closure and
grace.As I've watched the coverage over the last week, I must confess
how little I knew about John Paul II. Already what I thought I knew
of him is being eclipsed by the growing media consensus about him--
single-handedly defeated communism, humble Polish origins, beloved
by millions, suffered in his final years and a little controversy here or
there about women, contraception, sexuality but nothing to spend too
much time talking about after all who wants to be accused of being
irreverent at a time like this?Anybody remember John Paul II's critique of rich Western nations
that fail to care for the poor?Anybody remember Papal pronouncements on abortion, abstinence,
contraception and sexual norms?There's a lot of complexity and details in the man that was John Paul
II. It's too bad we're hearing so little about them.I must also say that I am still confused as to the difference between
which pronouncements were representative of John Paul II's
individual beliefs and which were official decrees by the Vatican as a
corporate body. I mentioned in the 3.31.05 post an interview with a
Catholic ethicist who pointed out the difference between what John
Paul II said in a speech about end of life issues and what the official
Catholic teaching is about such issues. I also came across an article
about the Vatican's stance on Liberation Theology--a branch of
Christian theology that stresses the Church siding with the poor to
resist systematic oppression--and how that stance differed from what
John Paul II really believed. This interesting fact comes in an
interview with Brazilian Cardinal Arns and gives some fascinating
insights into John Paul II's concern for the poor of the Southern
Hemisphere.*******
Speaking of the coverage of the Schiavo case and the death of John
Paul II, did you see the great commentary by Frank Rich in Saturday's
NY Times? Rich makes some astute observations about how the
deaths of Schiavo and John Paul II are being used by all kinds of
politicians and interest groups (most especially the Religious Right)
for their own ends.*******
Each week on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart I enjoy watching
the apoplectic tirades of the comedian Lewis Black. He's got a new
book out and is making the rounds of talk shows. Black's interview
on NPR's Fresh Air With Terry Gross was a fun listen and I was
interested to find out that as a child, Black literally gave himself fits
through his constant guilt-filled prayers to God. I wonder what the
connection is between his childhood prayers and his current persona
as outraged everyman.Peace,
Chase